16 comments:

Oh boy! I just resurrected our house blog last month after being shocked with the news that a surprise #3 was on the way. I came to the realization that the days just fly by and seriously - if you blink you'll miss half of it along the way. Then again, you can get sucked into the computer just as easily - so balance is necessary. But it's fun to document and look back, to be sure!

You've come a long way baby! Doesn't it feel great to see what you've accomplished and gotten through in those years. I started this blog as a bit of a diary of my renovations and I often look back through to see the work we've done and think yep, I deserve a night on couch with a glass of wine tonight look at those 'afters'!

I like looking at old blog posts too...yours, before I was a reader. And others. Sometimes it's a bit intimidating since I'm older (50-something) and never take on the dramatic projects most of you do. Bust mostly I love your ideas and find myself inspired to make some small changes. And that's awesome!

Five years ago for us was a very difficult year. Our son was diagnosed in utero with a genetic condition (trisomy 9) and no one could give us any sense of how severely he would be affected. It was a sad and scary time, both before and after he was born. The first Christmas after his birth, my husband surprised me with an iPhoto book made up of fun pictures from that year. The cover was titled "2006: A Very Good Year."

It was such a wonderful way to reframe the year, and to bring forward the good times we'd had with our daughter, and the new little one. It made those times the solid memories and let the difficult feelings recede. I cried and cried and each year since then he has given me a photo book for that year for Christmas. Each year has gotten better!

They don't have text, though, and I am not a scrapbooker nor did I keep up baby books. This year I started writing events or quotes from the kids on 3x5 cards and dropping them into a clear jar on the kitchen counter. After 8 years of trying to find a way to keep track of memories, I've finally found a method I can maintain! At the end of the year I'll bundle them together and put them in a library card tray, or place them in order in a photo holder. As I can't remember anything I've written on them the last 4 months, I'm looking forward to reading them again.

what an awesome adventure you've had so far!! i love all the places you've traveled...I've been to Cambodia and Thailand (beautiful aren't they??) and am dying to hit up London and Australia. love your blog! newest follower! :)